A Florida pastor made famous by his strident anti-Islam views and widely
publicized Koran immolation was barred entry into Canada Thursday because border
officials had qualms about legal tussles in his past.

Terry Jones was supposed to attend a multifaith debate on the film
Innocence of Muslims outside Ontario’s legislature Thursday evening.
Mr. Jones and Wayne Sapp, associate director of Stand Up America Now, said they
were stopped at the Michigan-Ontario border and searched before being turned
away.

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Cyrus McGoldrick, a member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, talks to commuters as they walk by an advertisement that reads "Support Israel/Defeat Jihad" in the Times Square subway station in New York
Reuters

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At issue is a breach of peace charge against Mr. Sapp that he said was
overturned, and a fine Mr. Jones had to pay in Germany for using the title
“Doctor” from an unrecognized institution, a complaint Mr. Sapp said was
successfully appealed.

“Because we don’t have documentation of this, they refused us entry into the
country,” Mr. Sapp said Thursday afternoon. They planned to return to Florida
and consider their legal options.

“The reasons that they had definitely do not hold water,” Mr. Jones told Jim
Richards on Toronto radio station Newstalk 1010.

Dozens of people were killed during protests in Afghanistan after Mr. Jones
burned a Koran last year; many have died in recent weeks in riots spurred by the
film Innocence of Muslims, which Mr. Jones promoted.

The pastor says he bears no responsibility for that violence.

“It’s just part of the price you pay for freedom of speech,” he said in an
interview Wednesday from Michigan. “Freedom of speech is sometimes going to be
controversial, it’s going to be insulting sometimes.”

The debate was to go forward Thursday evening with a substitute in Mr.
Jones’s place. Allan Einstoss, one of the debate’s organizers, said the event is
meant to be a statement about the importance of freedom of speech.

“The highest form of free speech is when you’ve got dissenting views,” he
said. “Democracy can be a messy thing.”

“Are we, under free speech, allowed to shout ‘fire’ in a movie theatre?” he
asked.

“It’s illegal to deny the Holocaust. It should be illegal to make statements
so offensive it incites a violent reaction. When you know what will be the
consequences, when you deliberately provoke, there should be a law against that.
Because you are posing a danger to the public.”

Mr. Rockwell had planned to press the visiting pastor on just how much he
knows about the Koran. “I want to hear from him what he found in the Koran that
was so reprehensible, so vile, that he had to burn it.”

The Canadian government said it does not comment on individual cases and that
border officials determine the entry of any individual on a case by case
basis.

“Every person seeking entry to Canada must demonstrate that they meet the
requirements to enter the country,” said Julie Carmichael, spokeswoman for
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.